Ancient Civilizations of North America

If you’re at all interested in North America’s history, this is an excellent Great Course to consume. It really does do a solid job of putting the peoples of North America into the historic map.

I learned a lot about how North America (mostly the US) was peopled, how early that happened, and what some of the evidence shows about that history.

It’s amazing to me to discover there were many huge population centers dating back thousands of years ago; there’s evidence of pyramids along with the mounds I had learned about in school. Also interesting to me is the exploration of astrology and how many of the groups incorporated astrology into their lives and building plans.

While technologies didn’t go the route of the Europeans over the past 2000 years, up until that point, the peoples of North America were in line with the technologies of most of the rest of the world.

I must admit, I was a bit disappointed that Nevada was mostly left out of the history presented. There were a few mentions of the Great Basin peoples, but not in any detail. And, as one who regularly explores the rock art of our southern Nevada regions, I’ve seen evidence of our early inhabitants. So, it would have been nice to have learned more about them. At the same time, I’m sure my feelings about Nevada are probably true for many other regions in the US. And, a few hours of lecture certainly can’t get to all of those places.

All in all, I recommend this Great Courses production if you want to learn more about Ancient North American Civilization. I think you’ll probably be surprised about what you think you know.